Pastor: Connie Belmore
When Boasting’s OK
Reading:
Romans 5:1-11
My brother has mentioned several times recently that our Dad did not like bragging or boasting. He taught us that it was important to be humble. If our family got a new car or boat, he did not want us to go out and brag or boast about it. We were to be humble. But the problem with being humble is that the moment that we think or say we are humble, we are bragging about it and therefore not humble. Humility is a state that we cannot aspire to be. It is something that the Spirit of God alone can instill in us and our role is to accept it. With humility comes no boasting. But there is one exception to this rule that is made clear in the Scripture reading today.
This reason to boast is very clearly stated in 2 Corinthians 10:17 but explained best in Romans 5. It is okay to boast or rejoice about the glory of God. The glory of God is made available to us through Jesus Christ and we have access by faith to this grace. The word glory means triumph or grandeur. In Romans 5, we are reminded that even amidst tribulation we can have hope. The trials we go through make us persevere, form character and have hope. The boasting is not about us but about how awesome God is in that while we were sinners, he sent Christ who died for us… as ungodly as we were. We boast about this great demonstration of God’s love that through the death of Christ we have been reconciled to God and redeemed by the life (resurrection) of Christ.
